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Originally Posted by lisarea
It's just something we do as a community effort, not because our personal vote is going to make such a big difference, but because it's something we all need to do for it to work. You do not end up seeing an individual result for your vote. If you think about it, it really is a poor use of your personal time. The result is spread out among many people. It's a team effort of a whole bunch of individuals who sacrifice a little of their time to make their decisions as part of a huge national|state|county|city|district wide effort. It can seem almost petulant, in a way, when people say, effectively, "If I'm not going to get my way, I'm not going to bother." The goal is not to get your way. The goal is to be one of a great many who all go to their polling places to participate in the democratic process.
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Bingo. I'd never thought about it exactly these terms before but it strikes me as dead-on. Voting is a collective effort we make to be involved in our democracy. The systemic failures and injustices of the system don't change that, nor does the fact that our individual action means nothing taken by itself.
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And I actually kind of like voting. I like walking down to the polling place, filling out my ballot, and getting my sticker, which I put on my steering wheel, and try to keep intact until the next time I get a sticker.
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I like it too, especially with the punch ballots 'cause that's just plain fun. I don't share your sticker fetish, although I probably would if they were puffy or scratch-n-sniff or something.